North London Waste Authority ends procurement process

Tight council finances have led to the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) ending its procurement process for new long-term waste services.

It is now looking for less expensive solutions as a result of changing circumstances, including recent developments in planning policy.

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An alternative strategy will be based on continued use of NLWA’s Edmonton energy from waste facility with long-term plans for a new facility to replace it and provide electricity and a heat network.

It will also seek to achieve its current target of 50 per cent household recycling by 2020, and by the same date reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill to 35 per cent of 1995 amounts.

NLWA chair Cllr Clyde Loakes said: “These are tough times and we have to do everything we can to protect services. That means ensuring every decision we make offers real value for money. This decision will save north London money in the short- to medium-term, and could save us a total of up to £900 million over almost 30 years.

“Fundamental changes to local planning policy were confirmed this summer and in the light of those changes we asked for more work to be done on a range of matters – part of this work confirmed that with some additional capital expenditure our current facility at Edmonton can run up to at least 2025.”

Two key planning documents, including from the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, were adopted in early-summer this year that fundamentally changed NLWA’s ability to secure planning permission for a long-term energy recovery solution at Edmonton.

Technical assessments also suggested that with some modest capital outlay, the existing facility at Edmonton could be modified to remain operational until 2025.